Creating boundaries in your business is imperative to mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and also social health. It’s something I am working on everyday. We are in a service based industry and when we love what we do so much it becomes so easy for us to give and give and somewhere along the way we lose a bit of ourselves. I had a conversation with one of my favorite photographers about his workshops and how sometimes he and others he works with give too much. Is that bad to say? NO. Its important to admit. How can we say: “No, I’m so sorry I cant help you with that or my schedule is booked, I can’t take that on.”? Some people have no problem asking the world of you, but if you continue to let them, well you can’t blame them. One word: PRACTICE. To me it seems like a new exercise. Something we have to do quite a few times before we get over the soreness and we have it mastered.
Do you say yes too much? “Yes” to 100 emails until 11pm at night? “Yes” to Twitter all day long (and yes some of you clearly do almost nothing else but twitter) I realized I said “Yes” to scheduling more meetings and appearances, coachings, and travel then I probably should.
I think we all give a little too much here and there and sometimes not enough to the people and relationships that mean the most. Don’t answer that email after business hours! It can make you too available. Make a plan to shut it down so you can ramp back up. Sometimes it feels like we are on auto pilot and we never rest enough to be fully recharged.
We need to put ourselves, families, faith, and friends first. Clients and Brides second. When you are centered and take care of you first, then you are able to say “Yes” and take care of them. Right?
Photo by Elizabeth Messina
*This original post was originally published on February 23, 2010.
